ADD ELEMENT

•          Click on ELEMENT(S) button to open the SELECT ELEMENTS dialog box as shown in Figure 4.4.3. There are three options available for selecting elements in the display screen and/or active database. They are SELECT BY CURSOR, SELECT BY, selection by Displayed (elements on the display screen) and All Elements (in active database).

Figure 4.4.3  Select Element dialog box

 

•          If the checkbox for SELECT BY CURSOR is toggled on, the user can select elements using the following methods.

1.        Click on  (Element) icon to select an element using mouse cursor and/or pressing the left mouse button and move the mouse cursor over the desired elements to select multiple elements. If the BOUNDARY option is activated, once an element is selected, all the elements on boundary will be selected.

2.        Click on  (Surface) icon to pick elements on a surface.

3.        Click on  (Drag Window) icon to pick elements inside a window defined by two diagonal corners, or the elements inside and intersecting with the window. The selection type depends on ALL IN REGION option. If this option is activated, only the elements inside the window are selected. Otherwise, the elements intersecting with the window will also be selected.

4.        Click on  (Free Region) icon to pick elements inside a free hand region, or the elements inside and intersecting with the region. The selection type depends on ALL IN REGION option.

5.        Click on  (Spread) icon to pick elements by chained approach based on spread angle which is the angle difference between normal vector of an element and normal vector of its adjacent elements. The slider can be moved to adjust the spread angle. If the angle formed by the normal vectors of the selected element and the adjacent element is less than the selected angle, the adjacent element is selected.

6.        Click on  (Multi-Point Region) icon to pick elements inside a polygon, or the elements inside and intersecting with the polygon. The selection type depends on ALL IN REGION option. Click the left mouse button in a sequence to define the polygon.  Click the right mouse button to reject the last point. Click the middle mouse button to complete polygon definition and element selection.

7.        Click on  (Circular Region) icon to pick elements inside a circle, or the elements inside and intersecting with the circle. The selection type depends on ALL IN REGION option. Click the left mouse button to define the center of the circle and hold the left mouse button. Move the mouse to define the circle.  Release the left mouse button to complete definition of circle and element selection.

8.        Click on  (Existent Line) to select elements. Take the view direction as the projection direction. Select elements inside the line, or the elements inside and intersecting with the line.

 

SELECT BY

•          If the SELECT BY option is toggled on, two approaches can be used to select elements.  The user may select elements by Part and/or Range by clicking on the drop down button as illustrated in Figure 4.4.4.

Figure 4.4.4  Select element by Part and/or Range

Figure 4.4.5  Select element by Range

1.           SELECT BY PART

This function allows the user to select elements by selecting parts, as shown in Figure 4.4.4. If this option is selected, after clicking the UNSPECIFIED button, the program will pop up a Select Part dialog box for the user to select a part. All elements in the selected part will be selected automatically and be highlighted on screen.  

2.        SELECT BY RANGE

Type the range of element ID in the input box as illustrated in Figure 4.4.5, following by clicking on Done button to complete the operation.  All elements within the desired range will be selected.

 

FILTER

•          If the Filter option is toggled on, user can select the specifically element type through this option. User can click the FILTER TYPE button to set the element type. The Element Filter Type dialog box is illustrated in Figure 4.4.6.

Figure 4.4.6  Element Filter Type dialog box

 

There are nine types of element in the Element Filter Type for user to filter. They are Shell, Solid, Beam, Rigid Body, Mass, Spot Weld, Spring/Damper, Thick Shell and Plotel. User can toggle off the unneeded element types to reduce the range of selection.

 

•          User can select all elements in the display screen by clicking on the DISPLAYED button. The total number of the selected elements will be shown in the TOTAL SELECTED dialog box.

 

•          All elements that meet the selection requirements in the database are selected by clicking ALL ELEMENTS. The total number of the selected elements will be shown in the TOTAL SELECTED dialog box.

 

•          The ALL IN REGION option and partial options of SELECT BY CURSOR can be combined for use.

 

•          The BOUNDARY option can combine with the ELEMENT option in SELECT BY CURSOR to select elements on the boundary.

 

•          The EXCLUDE option is used to remove selected elements, while the REJECT LAST SELECTION function is used to deny last selected elements.

 

•          Select OK to complete the element selection and return to the Add…To PART dialog box.